baseballfandomcom-20200222-history
Red Rolfe
Robert Abial "Red" Rolfe (October 17, 1908 – July 8, 1969) was an American third baseman, manager and front-office executive in Major League Baseball. A native of Penacook, New Hampshire, he is one of the most prominent players to come from the Granite State. Rolfe, a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, also was an Ivy Leaguer: a graduate, then long-time athletic director of Dartmouth College, and (from 1943–46) baseball and basketball coach at Yale University. During his playing career, Rolfe was the starting third baseman on the New York Yankees of the late 1930s. The "Bronx Bombers" of Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing won American League pennants from 1936–39 and took all four World Series in which they appeared, winning 16 games and losing only three in Fall Classic play over that span. Rolfe played 10 major league seasons, all with New York, batting .289 in 1,175 games. His finest season came in 1939, when he amassed 213 hits, 139 runs scored, and 46 doubles while hitting .329 with 14 home runs and 80 runs batted in. He retired following the 1942 season. After his four-year coaching stint at Yale, Rolfe coached the Toronto Huskies of the BAA in 1946-1947 and returned to the Yankees as a coach. After the season, Rolfe joined the Detroit Tigers as director of their farm system. But he returned to the field after only one season, when he succeeded Steve O'Neill as Tiger manager after the campaign. In , Rolfe's first season as manager, the Tigers improved by nine games and returned to the first division. Then, in , they nearly upset the Yankees, winning 95 games and finishing second, three games behind. A fluke botched double play was the team's undoing. Late in September at Cleveland, the Indians had the bases loaded in the tenth inning with one out and the score tied. Visibility was poor because smoke from Canadian forest fires was blowing across Lake Erie. On an apparent 3-2-3 double-play grounder to first base, Detroit catcher Aaron Robinson thought he simply needed to touch home plate for a force play to retire the Indians baserunner charging in from third. But in the smoky conditions Robinson had not seen that a putout had already been made at first base, necessitating that the catcher tag the runner, not the plate, to record an out. Robinson mistakenly tagged the plate, the run counted and Cleveland won the game. It was the turning point in the pennant race, for the postwar Tigers, and for Rolfe's managerial career. Beset by an aging starting rotation, the Tigers faltered in , slipping to 73 wins and finishing fifth, 25 games behind New York. Then Detroit completely unraveled in , winning only 23 of 72 games under Rolfe. On July 5, he was fired and replaced by one of his pitchers, Fred Hutchinson. The 1952 club won only 50 games, losing 104 – the first time ever that the Tigers lost 100+ games. Rolfe then returned to Dartmouth as the athletic director of his alma mater from 1954-67. The college's baseball diamond is named in his honor. Rolfe died at Gilford, New Hampshire, in 1969 at age 60 from chronic colitis. See also * List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions * List of Major League Baseball doubles champions * List of Major League Baseball triples champions External links * Category:1908 births Category:1969 deaths Category:Players from New Hampshire Category:Major League Baseball third basemen Category:New York Yankees players Category:Detroit Tigers managers Category:American League All-Stars Category:Dartmouth Big Green baseball players Category:National Basketball Association head coaches Category:Toronto Huskies coaches Category:New York Yankees coaches Category:Yale Bulldogs baseball coaches Category:Yale Bulldogs men's basketball coaches Category:Albany Senators players Category:Newark Bears (IL) players Category:1936 New York Yankees World Series Championship Team Category:1937 New York Yankees World Series Championship Team Category:1938 New York Yankees World Series Championship Team Category:1939 New York Yankees World Series Championship Team Category:1941 New York Yankees World Series Championship Team Category:Third Basemen Category:Players